Competency review in state slaying case delayed

ELKINS, W.Va. -- Cooperation issues have delayed a competency re-evaluation hearing for a Randolph County man accused of killing his wife.

The Inter-Mountain reports that Randolph County Circuit Court Judge Jaymie Wilfong rescheduled the hearing after Theodore Newlon's lawyer, James Hawkins, objected to holding the proceeding on Wednesday. The hearing is now set for March 7, 2014.

Hawkins said Newlon hasn't been cooperating with personnel at William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston. Hawkins also said hospital officials haven't cooperated with him in preparing Newlon's defense.

The 82-year-old Kerns man is charged with murder and wanton endangerment in the 2012 fatal shooting of 69-year-old Dora Lee Newlon.

In December 2012, Wilfong found Newlon not competent to stand trial. She later ruled that there was a "substantial likelihood'' that Newlon could regain competency.